Marx & Communism

Dear Mr Hippy
Love the web-site, but there’s one small thing that I’ve just gotta
correct….

Communism is opposed to the state in any form – unlike your answer to the
‘Stinking Hippy says.

Marx never actually provided a blue print for how a communist community was
supposed to look like or how it was specifically to act. The big idea was
for people, who are all equal, to work together in a harmony that was absent
from any great overarching power (like when French students and workers took
over an area of Paris and created their own artisan style community in
protest against oppressive politics – your own fellow hippies!). By not
leaving a blue print, Marx thought that people would be able to create a
communist community free from the prescriptions of an antiquated era, that
people would eventually evolve away from capitalism once it had reached its
peek and instead search for a better way of living where there was no
discrimination based on material wealth, race, colour or gender (the sort of
equality of living that resembles Star Trek I guess, no ones got a higher )
Unfortunately, by not providing a blue-print he left his ideals open to
interpretation by some pretty nasty guys (i.e.. China, Russia, Serbia etc.).
But that’s the problem with art – it generally can be interpretated by
people in line with their own self interest.

Basically he just saw a lot of corruption, poverty, inequality, bulling and
unnecessary pain in the 18th Century ( very anti-hippy behaviour!) and
wanted to motivate people to change things. Unfortunately the world was
still quite barbaric in those days and so Marx’s revolution was portrayed in
a way that people could associate with – namely a bloody uprising (aka
Russia, French revolution, China, Serbia etc.). I think that Marx gets
picked on a bit too much – after all he was only a guy with a concept that
the world needed to be improved for the benefit of all. And that is
something that were all familiar with (and remember there were a lot more
scary people in history with worse ideals than that).

So fellow hippy – do not judge those who you have not met – and never listen
to gossip coz it poisons your head.

Peace, love and mushrooms
Sarah

Sarah,
What you are describing is more like anarchy than communism. Anarchy is anti-system, where as Marx just saw replacing one system with another. Much of Marx’s focus was on the economics of society, and even though he took a sociologist’s approach, he completely ignored human psychology (a new field at the time). And I was discussing communism in practice, more than theory. Communism in it’s pure form is something completely different, most closely resembling the communes of the 60s till the present. But just like chickens, humans tend to establish a pecking order which then invests more power in the hands of a few who then control the masses. It’s inevitable as long as humans remain self-centered and greedy.

By not providing a blueprint (which would always be unworkable anyway),
Marx copped out. He just put down the existing system without really
offering a viable alternative (as did many hippies). Fortunately many
hippies did explore alternatives, but these were limited to very small
communities of mostly like-minded individuals. And as you can see most of
these have failed for one reason or another. The only ones that remain are
those that launched capitalist enterprises that could bring in revenue
from outside the commune to keep it alive. And the politics of communes can
be just as fucked as those of the greater society. I know of many where the
leaders took advantage of their fellow communers, and exploited them –
these sometimes but not always had some kind of religious bent.

And if you think the world ISN’T barbaric anymore, you haven’t traveled
much, and aren’t keeping up with what’s happening in the world. In fact why
not look in your own backyard at the ANIMAL HOLOCAUST that is occuring just
for economic reasons. It’s completely unnecessary. This is capitalism
showing its true colors. Just wait until it’s a disease affecting humans.
You can expect a similar response. Unfortunately, THAT day is coming….